Guardian of the Jinchuriki
by darkerdeepdown
Summary: When Minato and Kushina pushed their chakra into the seal, they didn't expect it to happen like this! While they get to watch over their son, they kinda wished it wasn't like this! short beginning but well written, will make longer chapters as I go!
1. Prolouge

This is my second fan fic so please be nice. Arigatou-desu! X3

All throughout the history of the world, there have been stories of ghosts or spirits that could either help you or haunt you. Some will look ghoulish, others angelic; some benign, some malignant; others will hurt, and some will be guardians. But here am I rambling on when we could be seeing what's happening in the world of the living.

"Get the punk, don't let him escape!"

"It just ran behind that house!"

We begin our story to a boy shivering in the night hoping to find refuge in a hole in the wall. His dark orange hair stained from its original sun kissed blonde hair and his deep sapphire eyes holding pain and no self-worth.

"Why do they keep hurting me," he wails between sobs but in a hushed tone for fear of them finding him.

"I thought I heard something over there," a villager, definitely masculine, shouts.

Naruto gets grabbed by the arm and dragged out showing his bloodied form. His white shirt is pockmarked with tears and bloodstains, while his pants are certainly much worse off, a huge tear along his knees keeps his pant leg held by a thread. The mob surrounds the boy and throws all manners of things at him such as: rocks, sticks, and maybe a kunai or shuriken or two; luckily for our hero, these only nicked his skin.

When they finally stopped beating him after they had thought he was dead, just to get rid of the evidence one of them slowly and agonizingly did hand signs ending in tora. "Katon: grand fireball no jutsu." A flame came to envelope him… but it never hit its target for, out of nowhere a red and a yellow flash flew across the flame destroying it then it was gone.

In that minute, while the villagers were in shock, Sarutobi came with four ANBU with him.

"Round all of them up and send them all to Anko and Ibiki"

"Understood."

While the other ANBU were at work, one of them, Neko was tending to the boy or if a lump of flesh with rags on it stained crimson could be considered a boy.

"Why do they do this to a four year old boy on his FUCKING birthday?" If you looked hard enough you could see tears dripping off of the bottom of the mask, the green shroud around her hands flickering with her emotions.

"The sadness and rage of a person can drive them to do almost anything without a cause to do so. Because I left the info of the sealing to the public in my never ending wisdom to their discretion they use him as a scapegoat to find release from their sadness. I can only wish that he will not hate me, Minato, or anybody for what we do to him."

Sarutobi picked him up from the ground seeing he still had a pulse and rushed to the hospital to remind them who is Hokage and WHY.

But as they left they never noticed, or should I say couldn't see, a silhouette man and woman. He with light blonde hair and she with red flaming hair each glowing with an ethereal flame, each was smiling thanking kami for giving them a chance to watch over their son.


	2. PIXIES!

Naruto stirs in his sleep, fighting through the dull grey of his sleep into the opaque brightness of the waking world. His efforts are rewarded with a foggy mind and an incessant beeping for his fanfare. His tiny frame squirms in the uncomfortable bed, trying to get comfortable. His vision clears and his senses slowly come back to him, only to be assaulted by a numb pain wracking through his body.

He looked around himself, wondering where he was now. He last remembered getting some ramen from Teuchi-ossan, and then it kind of went empty. He shrugged sluggishly, writing it off as unimportant. Just then, someone entered his room, carrying a clipboard with some paper on it. A nurse, wearing dull blue scrubs, flipped a page to look at a chart then turned to look at the occupant of the bed with whom she had been charged with. A lone sky blue eye went wide while the cascading brunette hair covered the other one. She fumbled with the chart and nearly tripped, causing a murder of childish laughter to fill the room. She straightens herself up, brushing away imaginary dust to keep some form of dignity. Her figure was obscured by the mandatory uniform but she still had an appeal to her jus from her presence. Naruto imagined that that could be what a mother feels like, having a strong but caring feeling about her.

"Good to see that my favorite little man is awake," announce the soft voice of the nurse.

"I'm always happy to see my Sora-oneechan!" came the exuberant reply, though somewhat slurred from the exhaustion and painkillers.

Sora, the aforementioned attendee, walked over to Naruto's bed and checked his vitals. When everything seemed normal, she asked Naruto if he could stand upright. He slowly stood up and stretched out, giving a long and loud yawn. She checked his limbs and didn't find any problems, not even scarring from the assaults. She put on her stethoscope and asked Naruto to breathe for her. No abnormalities in heart rhythm nor in in his lungs short of some fluid that could easily be allergies as from the fiasco he went through.

"Well, you check out well enough, but you will need to stay here till you are checked out by Sarutobi-sama. He said he would stop by later around noon time so you have a few hours. Do you want me to get you some food and water?" She asks kindly, rubbing his back to soothe his aching muscles.

Naruto nods his head and mumbles thanks. Sora removes the IV and hangs up the wires, followed by shutting down his equipment before giving him a quick kiss on the brow before going back to her rounds.

Naruto sighs in comfort as the warmth from that kiss seems to spread all across his body. As he opens his eyes, a flash of color dances at the corner of his vision. He turns to look for the source, but finds nothing for his troubles. He begins to get a feeling of not being alone, and pretends to lie down and go to sleep. Just when he thinks he was imagining things, he feels something get on his bed. It's small but it moves from the foot of his bed upwards.

Naruto tries to keep from tensing but barely succeeds. As it gets closer to his head, images of monster and imps flash in his mind and he begins to pray to whatever deity that he be saved from whatever it was! He finally creates a mental will, giving all his ramen to gama-chan and his plants to Ojii, when…

He gets petted on the head.

"Sleep tight Naruto-sochi," a tiny, somewhat squeaky voice whispers.

He whips around and comes face to face with a tiny red-haired woman. She had violet eyes and a simple white dress. She was no taller than a squirrel, and she was floating a few inches off the bed. She turned to run away when Naruto plucked her out of the air and stared at her with scrutiny.

"Unhand me this instant young man or you are SO grounded -tebane!" the pixie like creature yelled as she flailed around, trying to break his grip, going so far as to bite before letting go.

"Who are you, you damn chibi!"

Naruto was slammed over the head by something behind him.

"Language child, you don't want your mother to get angry with you. Trust me," a deep and commanding voice intoned from behind.

He turned and saw a man who looked a lot like him, except his hair was longer and his eyes were a shade darker. He wore a white trench coat over what a standard jounin would wear, with flames licking the bottom of the coat.

"And what does that mean, _Minato-KUN!_" The red haired pixy called out, with visions of hell behind her hair, which was flying up in nine directions.

The blonde hid behind Naruto, cowering in fear. "Only that our son here needs to honor and respect his beautiful and merciful and kind and caring mother," he soothingly pleaded.

Her wrath was abated and she zoomed right to her beloved hubby, nearly squeezing the life out of him.

Naruto at this point had passed out promptly, leaving the floating people claiming to be his parents to stare at his foaming-at-the-mouth form.

… "I think we need to do some explaining, datebane."


	3. Hospital Shenanigans!

Kenji was having a good day.

He had woken up from a pleasant dream of becoming a full-fledged doctor, happily married to the woman of his dreams. His coffee had tasted especially pleasant today, even if it was from the hospital cafeteria. He had no clinic duties to worry about. He had bossed around his kohais around, while still being seen as the nicest and most eligible bachelor attendee. He even had a pleasant conversation with the aforementioned future wife, whose duties he had taken up since she needed a lunch break and he wanted to look good.

But now he was to attend the room of the one person who could make his life more complicated than necessary. One Uzumaki Naruto, the only runt to dash away his peasant façade and show his truer jaded self. He had watched nursed him before and tried to pull the same act he did with everyone else, but after the fiftieth reference of ramen, he about blew a gasket and finally told the boy to shut up. The little punk had the gall, _the nerve_, to smile and congratulate himself on calling my bluff!

Suffice to say, that in the end, he grew to loathe interacting with the yellow ball of insanity, opting to hand it off to whoever was the closest gullible fool.

He opened the door leading to his _patient's_ room, only to find that said blonde child was swatting the air with a pillow, screaming about floating chibis posing as his parents. Kenji's blank stare went unnoticed for all of five minutes, before Naruto finally noticed him and bolted towards his leg, clinging to it for dear life.

"HELP ME KAMEN-ONICHAN! There are flying chibis harassing me!" a brief pause, in which Naruto seemed to be listening to something. "Of course you're harassing me!" another pause "Come on man! She's your woman, stand up for yourself instead of hiding behind the bed like a woman!" another pause, "Scratch that, run dude!"

Kenji just stayed stoic as he came to a startling but horrid realization.

"This is most definitely not worth it, not even for her."

Naruto finally sat down on his bed again, and ignored the arguing couple (rather one-sided at that), and looked to the second person in this whole hospital he liked.

"Sorry about that. They are busy right now so what's up?"

Kenji had yet to really move since entering the room, still fighting the urge to put the now obviously insane Naruto out of his misery. "Sora-san has been working without break for a while now and I thought I would take over her duties for a little while. She neglected to mention she was being the nurse to an annoying ball of trouble but the damage is done."

Naruto nodded like he perfectly understood (read: not) and looked back at the chibis, seeing the red head actively chewing on the blondes head.

"Oh yeah, so have you, um, what did you call it? Bring her in?"

"It's asked her out, and no, not that it's any of your business." Kenji grunted with a heated glare.

Naruto waved him off, shooing any negative feedback. His focus was engrossed upon the floating pixie-like people next to his bed as they were still wrestling, but what did kissing the neck of the redhead have to do with fighting. It seemed to work because she was looking all loose and goopy, but still it eluded him. Filing that away for later, he turned back to Kenji and asked bluntly, "You sure you don't see two pixies next to my bed?"

"Again, no, I do not see your two imaginary friends next to your bed."

The child gave a 'huh' and turned to observe the two now kissing and doing all mushy-gushy stuff. Did he not know that girls had cooties? The poor guy.

Kenji rolled his eyes checked if the blond wanted anything, grudgingly of course. He may have lost his mask, but not his dignity. When he heard that Naruto was hungry, he groaned and trudged over towards the cafeteria, blonde in tow. The second though that they were seen by people, his whole demeanor changed from lax and loathing to alert and chipper in the blink of an eye.

Naruto sniggered at this, this not being the first time he had seen this phenomenon. Hint his nickname for the guy, he always put on a mask of happiness and energy around other people, and they always seemed to smile back and enjoy his company. Naruto may not show it, but he really respected the guy and looked up to him, next to the Jiji of course, and even emulated him; for when he was feeling down or when he saw that others were, he slapped a smile right on his face and he saw that other people weren't as mad at him then.

They arrived at the cafeteria counter and when the cook saw Naruto, he scoffed and rolled his eyes. "How'd you get stuck watching the brat Kenji?"

Kenji just smiled a serene smile and chuckled, "Oh don't worry Hotaru-san, I am a physician and thus I am to care for all patients, be they big and injured, or _small_ and _rowdy_. It's just my calling as a human being."

The cook gave a laugh and made a comment of wishing to be a good a man as him, before serving them some food on the house. Kenji acted all pious and tried to pay for the meal but Hotaru wouldn't hear it. They were shooed off and they sat at the end a table near a trashcan and the exit.

Naruto devoured some of his food before stating, "I still don't know how you are able to do that every time we come here. Are you a ninja?"

"No, just good with people and knowing how to work the system; how else am I going to be the youngest and best doctor since Tsunade if I don't work the angles."

"Who's Tsunade?"

Kenji sighed and was about to level a glare at the boy before he noticed that intern were watching. He just patted the boys head, roughly, and laughed it off. When they weren't looking anymore, he sighed, nearly dodging a bullet.

"You will learn about her in school when they finally allow you to enter, kami rest their souls. All you need to know is that she saved my father when he was fighting in the war, and I owe my life to her when she delivered me in the middle of battle when my mother's village was under attack. Now eat your free food and head back to your imaginary pixie people."

"Okay!"

Naruto quickly ate the rest and bolted down the hall to his room. He came in and saw the blonde guy massaging his wife's shoulders and the redhead sleeping soundly, cuddling up into his chest. When he saw Naruto, he made a shushing motion and told him to come here.

Naruto obliged on the pretense that they obviously meant no harm. When he drew close, the man carried the woman towards Naruto and began pushing her into his stomach, and when she began to glow and fall inside it, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

The man brushed his hands together and stood tall and proud of a job well done. Once, he was done praising his abilities as a husband, he flew up to Naruto's shoulder and yawned before lying back on Naruto's neck.

"So I bet you have some questions to ask, huh?" the man droned lazily.

Naruto began to nod before realizing that that would inconvenience the man, so he just stuck with a 'yeah.'

"Well my name is Namikaze Minato, and who you saw earlier was my wife, formerly Uzumaki Kushina." Naruto's eyes grew wide and was about to question him before he was cut off. "And we are actually your mother and father, no joke. We weren't always like this, we were regular, or at least as regular gets with us, people. But on the night when the Kyuubi attacked, your mother and I fought it off and sealed it away. Now had everything gone right, we would be alive and you would have been much respected, even admired by the people for being our son. But on the night you were born, a bad man came and tried to harm your mom. I thought I had fought him off, but he as difficult to fight and got away. When I came back, the Kyuubi was here and you were in his hands, about to be killed. I fought him off once again, but he had killed many other people and was controlling the Kyuubi to do his will. Your mother was still weak and yet she kept the Kyuubi at bay, while I tried to fix the mess he had made. I had to re-seal it into something, and the only vessel ready at the time was you, my only son. I didn't want to do this but I had no other choice. Kushina wanted me to seal it into her and take it to its death for a century or two, but I knew differently. I knew you were meant for greatness and that you would need a mother more than a father. She still hates that I did that, but I still have faith in you to do something amazing with the beast. I know that you may not like me right now, but what I did; I did for everyone, as a Hokage and as a believer of that prophesy."

Naruto was quite for a long time after that. Tears began to stream down his face and sobs racked his body, mourning over the life he could have had being lost, and the unsure future ahead of him. He was a child, only seven for heaven's sake! Why did this all happen to him! Why not someone else, why him!

He felt a hand wipe away the tears in his eyes and envelope him in a miniscule embrace. He held tight to the man, now his father, and cried to his heart's content, unleashing all the sadness and misery of all his repressed memories and wailed aloud into his pillow. He felt something on his stomach and then another form appeared behind him, rubbing his neck and whispering soothing utterances into his ear. He turned to see the redhead who was also now his mother, and she joined the embrace, filling a place Naruto never acknowledged that he felt with a warm fire, thawing his cold and brightening the dark. They stayed like that for a while before Naruto fell asleep in the warm embrace of his parents love.

Sarutobi Hiruzen just came into the room, expecting to see an antsy Naruto, only to find the ball of untapped energy sleep, and on his face, a smile that he had never before seen on the poor boy. This smile, oozing pure joy and untainted innocence, sparked a fire in the man and stroked the flame he had long since thought gone cold. He will take back his village, no matter what the cost, just to see that smile one more time. This will not be allowed to happen ever again, so swear him and his title.

He rustled the boys shoulder, gently coaxing him into being awakened. Naruto's eyes opened, a little blood shot from maybe tears, but that smile is still shining bright like a beacon. He yawned and stretched his tiny frame, looking around for something before realization dawned on him, and began to rub his tummy.

"Have a good rest Naruto?"

"Yeah, Jiji, it was the best ever." The boy sleepily replied

The wizened leader chuckled before telling the boy to get ready. Another five minutes and they were on their way to the exit. Naruto said goodbye to Sora and Kenji on the way out, both smiling but one that felt more natural than the other. Sarutobi headed towards the apartment he had just gotten Naruto for a birthday present, not the whole building mind you, just a room that will suit his needs just fine. When he showed it to Naruto, the boy was overjoyed at having it all for himself. This was now his home, his place of rest and refreshment.

What made it better was that he won't have to live here alone now. With his mother and father there to guide him and love him, he felt like he could take on the world, and easily come out on top.


	4. Why I Am HOKAGE!

As Sarutobi came to the council chambers, he was starting to come to the realization that he had allowed the council to have too much sway in the grand scheme of things. He knew he had to pull the reigns or forfeit control to the people. He would rather die than allow Konoha kill itself because it was ruled by the mob.

He entered to see a confused council for the most part, but what made the epiphany earlier drive home were the few faces that seemed smug. Some of these faces were of civil and advisory council.

"Saru, what is the meaning of this meeting," questioned Homura. He was hoping that one of three things happened. The first either the child is dead, second he was so injured that he won't of do anything productive in his life, or finally his will has shattered so that he could be molded into the perfect warrior. He had nothing against the boy personally, just that after their last jinchuriki losing control he didn't want to take any chances.

"That is Hokage-sama to you, Homura. I have come to inform you all that there was an attempt on Naruto's life last night which, like the many before it, was squashed before the sin was committed. A few were breaking my decree and spouting nonsense of him being the demon, and they will be punished justly. How the civilian population got wind of this is why this council was called. Naruto will make a full recovery and a memory suppressing jutsu will be used so that he won't dissolve into a hollow shell."

Now many were dismayed at this news hoping the demon would have died but then again, there was always tomorrow, right?

Wrong.

"As of now, it comes to my full attention that a few of this council are beginning to undermine my authority. As such I am using Paragraph 4 Section 8 Sub-Section 5-8 of the Nidaime's Edict: _Ahem_ 'If the power is being undermined or being outright taken from the ruling party, it is in the Hokage's jurisdiction to do an overhaul on his ruling Advisory Council, Civilian Council, and Clan Council. If he finds holes in his department that are detrimental to Konoha's citizens and shinobi then he can justify any action against said conspirators done against them.' Anbu kindly escort the council to the Interrogation department so that we may see if any wish to have more power than responsible for. If any resist, I leave to your discretion on what fate they deserve."

What didn't surprise him was when some of his personal soldiers prevented his actions towards the council. Their images blurred and a Ne Kanji appeared on their masks, having their concealment genjutsu released and was easily put down by the reserve Anbu he had in hiding along the room.

"Now who else wants to resist. I assure you I have my full force here If you choose to rebel, I would find much humor in watching parasites that would bring harm to those in my home be squashed in front of everyone. Those that cooperate shall only be questioned and receive light interrogating. But those that resist will get the full package of being a traitor and if even the smallest blemish is shown on your account you will be severely punished, understood."

He left after that and left the Anbu to take charge of the situation. If he lost even one Anbu, there would be bloodshed ten times over. As he entered his office, he took advantage of this moment of freedom and passed a few edicts himself that would never have been passed had the council been working.

_I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, do hereby decree that all of the transgressions against Uzumaki Naruto shall be paid for in full compensation of monetary values. Sandaime Hokage_

_I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, do hereby decree a reformation of the Academy is in order; all details will be informed publicly. Sandaime Hokage_

_I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, do hereby decree that a medic corp. training curriculum will be initiated on a trial basis as of next month. Sandaime Hokage_

Sarutobi picked up a special scroll and applied chakra to it and a toad popped in the air.

"Yo Hokage-sama, what message do you want me to deliver?"

_At least a few respect my position_ "I need Jiraiya to bring Tsunade home for a short time. Tell him that her idea is being put to the test and she and he need to check on a certain patient."

"Hai"

As the toad enveloped in smoke, Sarutobi leaned back and fetched his trusty pipe and had a nice long drag. It was then that he noticed that venting his emotions on his paperwork before his meeting had finished the job and he had a free evening.

_It just sometimes pays to be Hokage._

XXXX

"Oh, this is GOLD."

Jiraiya was giggling like a mad man having a good time because he didn't have to come up with what the women would do in his books, since they had decided that they were doing it for him.

This was a good day for him, big time.

A silent puff of smoke appeared next to the sage and got out its own spyglass to see what was on the menu for the next book. "Oi, I got a message from Sarutobi," said the toad quietly so that his summoner can resume his acts without pain coming upon him. As he related the message to Jiraiya, the sage's smile just got bigger and bigger and now it looked like the Cheshire cat had come to Konoha.

"Thanks Gamatsukai, rest assured I will fulfill my mission. By the way how is your book doing in the Summons Realm?"

"Good thanks for asking; now I better leave before we attract attention to ourselves. We super pervs gotta stick together." Another puff of Smoke later and he was gone.

"Man, I love that guy. Now where were we? Oh yes. Holy shi- another girl has joined. I love being me!" His nose had currently decided to not hold onto anymore blood and ejected it out of his nasal cavity. It's a wonder no one could here is mad laughter.

The esteemed council had been called yet again, their numbers significantly smaller from most being still interrogated. All that were left were the Hyuuga, Akamichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame, the Uchiha Matriarch Mokoto Uchiha, and various smaller nin-clans; along with that were various merchants that were checked out by the Interrogation squad, and various appointed leaders of the civilians.

Sarutobi strolled in, though perturbed by the _surprise_ earlier, with a confident and smug smirk.

"Esteemed council members, or those that are here, I come to inform you of my decree I made as of two days ago. You had been handed copies already have you not?"

"Please enlighten us of your hastily drawn commands. Most of us are a little concerned with your demands listed, for you could have made them in a fit of passion." Hiashi retorted.

"I assure you, though I was frustrated with the events that occurred that day, I was of sound mind when I issued those orders. I have called you all here to explain my actions in full detail…"

"For my first decree, I feel that it was fair for all parties involved in the physical harm of the child. I shall read you the full report of Uzumaki-san's emergency detail:

'_I Konobawa Akira, personal Physician to the 7 year old child Uzumaki Naruto, am appalled as to what I am seeing as of October 18. Uzumaki-san came in with multiple stab and laceration wounds. Forty percent of his body is burned, twenty-eight percent first to major second degree burns along his arms (most likely to shield his face) and along his side, nine percent along his scalp is third degree burns, and his hands have fourth degree burns that should render his hands helpless. We found pieces of charred wood on his persons alluding to a torch of some kind used. He has multiple bruising, exterior and interior, especially in his stomach and face. There was a contusion and multiple concussions on his mind which might develop problems later on. There is major blood loss most likely some infection if the scraps of trash among the other things rubbed against his wounds could tell. Were it not for First Aid being applied on the scene, I assure you that the damage could have been worse, leading to his ultimate death, even with the healing. "_

This left stillness in the room as the men in the room were appalled and believed that maybe more should have been done for the boy as compensation. The mothers were horrified at such a thing being done to a _child_. They imagined if such a thing happened to their children and were on the verge of losing their meals.

Mikoto was the first to speak. "Why has such a thing been allowed to happen, why has nothing been done to stop this!" she cried.

"This was the first time I had gotten a report from Konobawa-san that had not been tampered with. It seems that my trusted advisors have been feeding me false information so that I might not get _distracted_ from my duties. There were many more like these that I have received while my ANBU searched Homura's and Koharu's offices and abodes. There was also a few reports in Danzo's NE headquarters that was discovered after interrogating a few of the prisoners that wanted to frame and incite the Uchiha to revolt against me so Danzo could take the position of Hokage."

This frightened Mikoto to no end and would tell her sick Husband when she got home of this news and see if he knew anything.

"Now for my second decree and third decree, it is something I wanted to do for a long while and had given the idea to Minato so he could instate them in his reign; we see how well that worked in the short time of his reign. For too long has the brink of War stalked Konoha's doorsteps and now that we are at a time of relative peace, we can now enhance our training methods since we don't exactly need to keep a steady stream of soldiers to replenish those that were lost. Now after the trials with Kumo have passed," Hiashi flinches at this, "we can give reform to how we raise our shinobi."

"First, the academy has become very slack and has many flaws. We do not need a flowing number of troops now and so we can adjust the curriculum and necessary graduation requirements. I propose that we extend the time of graduation a few years, two maybe three at most. With this time I want to instigate a skill selection class, split into multiple fields a shinobi will fill in their tour of duty. These selections being: kenjutsu and weapons advancement, spying and information retrieval, seduction and distraction classes, and among other things chosen or recommended by the teacher. Also a conditioning program to better initialize our new found genin into the harsh world of espionage and battle, to rid the children of the illusion of princesses and 'glorious' battle. Now are there any questions or objections?"

Aburame Shibi had this to say, "I see the logic in your proposition, but what kind of fruit would you bear from such changes to a system that seems to work."

Hiro Haruno, an elected official of the civilian class and a respected former shinobi responded with, "Wait, I have crunched the numbers and with Hiruzen's ideas the genin mortality rate would drop approximately 18.5% with an increase of mission success rating of 31.83% raising our economy to where we could put more funds in places that need them and into research of more advanced tech. Though we will experience a deficiency in new men for a while, and a dip in separate funding, I still think that this idea is both frugal and prudent" Yeah, he's an egg head. (A/N Behold! The origin of the bill-board brow)

Shikaku Nara had to concur, "Mendosuke-ma, but also with these reforms we can focus less on theory and more on execution and practical exercise that can give the genin hopeful more experience and a niche in the system early on which they can further cultivate on. I feel sorry for Shikamaru, he might actually have to work now, poor kid."

When everyone nodded in agreement and gave the ok for the program Sarutobi began his next spiel. "Now the medical corp. was propositioned by my student and world renowned medic, Senju Tsunade. It was her idea that with each team there should be one med-nin on staff for missions. But since we were at war at the moment we had not the time or resources to commit to such an idea. But now we can, with the hospital rebuilt and our techniques of medicine on the rise, we can move forward with this plan but a few altercations. One being that it will have to go through a trial period before being a main part of how we run things. Two we will have to assign med-nin, preferably retired, to work in the academy to start young and give this plan a gradual intermingling of our forces."

When no one objected to this tactic he dismissed all of the council except Mikoto.

"Now Miko-chan, I am going to give you this file and I want you to look over it. Don't give it to your husband right away, gauge his reaction and see if his involvement in this would-be plot is set. I trust you ok?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Mikoto walked in her home to look for her husband and inform him of this plan against the Uchiha. But when she looked for him she couldn't find him. But as she looked in the training room, she heard some noise from under her. She turned on her Sharingan and looked at the floor since it as dark and she would not have mice in her home. When she noticed a tatami mat out of place she checked it out. She lifted it and saw a tunnel heading down. She didn't go down but she heard very well what they were saying…

The Uchiha were discussing about military plans against Konoha's defenses.


	5. C'est la vi!

Howdy Y'all! Thanks for the reads and reviews, totally appreciated but one can never have enough! Even if you are setting ablaze my life's work, I will nod and find it's beauties in its fleeting last moments. Tell me what y'all think about how my characters are and if development has been progressing well.

Welp, here we go again!

"Naruto, honey, it's time to wake up."

We find our intrepid hero passed out in his bed… more like half-way. Sometime in the night, he had rolled over and his head and upper body had ended up on the floor, while the rest was tangled in the sheets. Kushina was watching him sleep, admiring the view she got to see every morning she could. Yet this time was different then all the others, this time she could wake him up and greet him with the morning. She could finally show him all the love she could all day, every day she could.

Se poked his head once again, getting only a groan and a switching of sides to rest on, drool all over the ground it used to rest on. She pondered how to go about this differently, because this wasn't working.

"_Maybe I could wake him like I do Minato!"_

She flew over to his sides, feeling along the ribs to find a certain spot. When she reached her destination, she tickled the spot as fast as she could go. When she didn't get the usual response of a yelp followed by laughter, she frowned, pouting her lips into a cute scowl.

"_Maybe I should do what Minato does for me? But I always hate it when he does that!"_

She sighs in resignation, before taking a deep breath, bellowing, "Oh my Inari! A ghost!"

The results were instantaneous as he bolted up; tumbling out of the bed, further tangling himself into his sheets.

"Be gone, meany spirit! Go haunt somewhere else! Let me go!"

His struggle drew to an abrupt end when the sound of hysterical laughter reached his ears. He finally poked his head out of his yarn ball of sheets only to see his chibified mother rolling on the ground laughing out loud. His indignant cry of "Kaa-san!" only added oil to the fire and it was a while before she stopped, and even longer before he was free from his blankets.

"That was mean Kaa-san!"

"I'm sorry baby, but that was priceless!" She stated out of breath. "We are ready to get breakfast started, but go wash up first, okay Naru?"

"Hai." He droned drowsily, his lack adrenaline now leaving him even more tired than usual. He got up and trudged towards the bathroom and turned on the shower before taking off his night clothes. As he was about to get in, he saw himself in the mirror in his peripherals and turned to look at himself. He was shocked to see some tattoo on his tummy right over his belly button. He traced some of it with his finger before it got too tiny to follow. He felt heat coming off the lines, almost like a pillow left out in the sun on a cold day. He began to feel his mind wander when a cry of his name jolted him aware and he got in the shower, now plenty warm. He cleaned quickly and dried off even more so before throwing on a tee and shorts and walked into his living/dining/kitchen room. Sure it was small, but it was home now and this suited him just fine. He even had a TV!

He walked over to his table to find breakfast waiting for him. Some rice, a bit of egg, and some fish to complete it. He jumped to the table and cried 'Itadakimasu!' before inhaling his food.

Kushina giggled at her son's antics, chewing on tiny bits of egg and a few grains of rice. "I'm sorry it's not much, but we don't have much to work with here. We need to get more supplies next time we go out, oh and some groceries. Ooh, maybe some furniture to liven this place up, some drapes would work well-" And Kushina began to ramble on and on about how to make this place a 'home worth showing off to the neighbors'.

Minato just smiled, enjoying a true family moment for the first time ever. Naruto finished his food, belched, excused himself and took his plate to the sink to clean his plate like he had always done.

"Here, let me get that Naruto," his mother called as she flew over to his shoulder.

"Nah, I got it. You cooked and I will clean the dishes. Besides, it has to be difficult to do anything when you're that small."

She huffed at that last part but was almost to tears on the inside, glad having such a considerate son. "It's not so hard when you can do _this!_" Chains materialized out of her back and one wrapped round the sponge while the rest got the dishes and soap. Naruto was in awe of his totally awesome mom and touched a chain, feeling energy coursing through its being. "Besides, this can be a family event, right Minato-koi?"

"But I'm still eating."

"_Right, Minato-koi!"_

He sighed in defeat and replied, "Yes mam."

The new found family spent the day together doing things that every other family did. They played some games, watched some TV, and even were about to head out to the park to have some "nature-time."

"Hey Mom, Dad, you were ninja right?"

The two in question turned away from the window sill watching Konoha and turned to their child who was playing with a toy they had found underneath a compartment in the floor.

Minato responded with pride, "Yep and I was one of the best there was at it! People ran in fear when they saw my face on the battlefield, and I had many admirers of the female persuasion."

"Don't forget male, sweetie."

"I try to everyday you mention it."

Naruto's face lit up and turned to his mother, "And you?"

"Now, not to toot my own horn, oh wait, yeah I do, I was an awesome ninja in my own right! Now I wasn't good at 'normal' jutsu, I could do my own jutsu no one else could do, and I am quite handy in a good ol' fashioned brawl. As an Uzumaki, I was the leading power in seals in ALL of Fire Country; even taught Minato a thing or two."

Naruto now had the face of a prophet before his god, awe consuming his being and totally enjoying the fact that his parents could kick any other kid's parents butt!

"Are y'all still the best?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kushina looked at Minato, curious how best to explain their current predicament.

Minato cleared his throat before flying over to his son, landing in his now official resting spot on Naruto's shoulder. "Yes and no. You see, the reason we weren't able to raise you was because the Kyuubi had tried to attack you after I had begun sealing it. We both instinctively shielded you with our bodies, saving your life but ending ours. When we saw the end coming, we poured our chakra into the seal, thinking it would add us as fail-safes or something like that. What we found however, was that we were separate entities in the seal, technically alive but also dead. Our chakra still replenishes, but only because it's fueled by you, otherwise we would disappear after moments of materialization. We can dwell in the seal but outside of it we need to eat and sleep still. We are sentient chakra constructs with limited capabilities and apparently only visible to you. Maybe the Uchiha or Hyuuga might see our forms, but not features. This pends further investigation." He hummed in deep thought, further analyzing their current capabilities.

Naruto's confusion was evident when he looked at his mother. She snickered at her hubby's long-windedness and summed it all up for the poor child to understand. "Pretty much, son, Kami allowed us to be you're very own Guardian Angels!"

Naruto let out a brief 'ah' before putting his new fox plushy, whom they had dubbed Inari-chan, up on his dresser and announcing that he would be back later and that he was to guard the house while they were gone. Imagining the fox saluting him, Naruto saluted back with a military dismissal.

The boy opened the door and held it open for his parents before closing it and locking it with the key Jiji gave him. He meandered down the stairs and walked out into the village proper, breathing in the crowded, fresh air. He looked to his right and his left and saw done the main street and the Hokage building at the end. He looked right and saw many vendors and shops before the imposing village gates were viewed, towering over the nearby buildings, bathing them in the afternoon shadow.

He turned right and walked a few blocks before turning right and headed for the park that resided at the end of the river that cut through Konoha, pooling into a nice sized lake. As he walked, he felt his father stir on his shoulder, finally rousing from his musings. His mother, whom was lounging in his spiky hair, turned over on her stomach and called out to her husband.

"Hey honey, come join me up here, the sun feels nice and I could use some company."

Minato looked up and located where his wife was, and flew up to her, softly landing on his son's scalp. Naruto giggled, feeling strangely at ease having his scalp inadvertently getting his scalp massaged by his shifting parents. His smile was interrupted when, as he was walking by the forest attached to the park, he heard the sound of a girl crying. Now, Naruto had been told by Jiji never to make a women cry, otherwise you were a bad person, and bad things happen to bad people. He bolted towards the crying, not feeling his parents hanging on for dear life to his hair.

He came across a little girl being bullied by three other kids. The girl was crying her eyes out and the guys were saying mean things about her eyes and some other things that he didn't understand, but mean none the less. He dove for the biggest one, plowing him into the ground and began to beat his face in. Jiji had said that fighting was bad, but what he had seen had made his blood boil for some reason and he went for the first thing he could think of doing and that was beat them up till they were sorry.

Once the other two kids had recovered from the shock, they picked him off the guy and held him down. Naruto thrashed and struggled against their grip but found he couldn't break free. He again did the first thing that came to his mind, and screamed at the girl to run. She was frozen for all of a minute before she left his limited vision. He turned back forward, only to notice a fist coming towards him. The impact hit hard and his head felt like it got squished between the ground and the source of the pain. When his face was punched to one side, he saw his parents unconscious against the ground, next to where he landed from the tackle.

'_They must have hit their heads when they fell off mine.'_ Naruto deduced before the next punch sent that thought flying. After a while, the bullies decided to pick him up, each holding an arm, and try to beat him up some more. Naruto took advantage of the ground beneath him, and kicked one in the crotch and bit the other's hand. They released him but he wasn't ready for the donkey kick that sent him tumbling a few feet. He tried to get back up but was kicked in the face.

The punk made some comment but he didn't hear it. The other two, one nursing his arm and the other his groin, made some notion of recognition before they got a really bad look in their eyes. Yet before Naruto could worry about what it could mean, a glowing chain wrapped around the three boys' heads, and slammed them together. They fell with a thud and didn't get back up, out like a light.

His mother shot into his vision and looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "Naruto! What were you doing! That was three on one and they were obviously older than you! You scared me so much baby! Don't think about doing that again, understand!

Naruto slurred out, "I'm sorry mommy, but they were being mean to a girl. Jiji said that a man helps a woman in need. Besides," he said as he began to rise, "I feel fine." He stumbled a little but began to stand firmly after a while. His eye was swollen but was slowly healing, along with the other cuts and bruises along his face.

Minato just stared on, being reminded just how he felt when he had pursued Kushina when she was being kidnapped by Kumo. He flew to his wife and looked at her, hoping she would let him speak. She complied, and began to hug Naruto's face, wondering what her husband had in mind.

"Naruto, it is never smart to jump into any situation without both the knowledge of the situation and the strength to fight back. What you did was reckless and stupid," Naruto became downtrodden at this, "and as a father I can't be more proud." Naruto's confusion could only be matched with his joy at that moment. "As a man, you jumped in without any hesitation and saved that poor girl, mind you could have been smarter about it, but you were more of a man than any of those three could ever be in this one moment. To congratulate your actions, I will begin training you as soon as possible. Then not only will you be able to save people, but you can do it without worrying your mother. Sound like a plan?"

Naruto began jumping for joy, talking about 'how awesome of a dad he was' or 'how awesome he will be because of his dad' and many other things before the sound of footsteps in the distance drew his attention. A minute later, the same girl he saved was running into the clearing, followed by a taller man who was looking at the situation. Now that Naruto was calm, he actually got a look at the girl, seeing who he saved heroically. She was small, almost petite in size, covered in a thin jacket, with a flame emblazoned on the right breast area. Her tights covered her short legs and sandals were on her feet. Her face was round and her hair was just a shade darker than blue, but not quite black. What got his attention though was her eyes, they were blank but only a hint of a really light shade of purple, he didn't know the name of the color, and though he couldn't stop the thought that it was strange, but kept it from bursting out of his mouth.

The man, who was significantly older and had the same eyes as hers, stared coldly at the boy before stating, "I see, so this boy was the one insulting you, can't say I'm not surprised."

"No! H-he saved me from those boys over there." Her tiny voice squeaked out, gesturing to the defeated boys.

"Yeah!"

"Enough Hinata, it is getting late and we need to head home. We should not affiliate with such urchins, it is beneath your status and we must leave." He grabbed her hand and made to leave, but she broke from his grasp and ran to the boy. His face showed stoic displeasure when she bowed and thanked him, but quickly turned outraged when she placed a peck on his cheek before bolting past him, hiding behind his leg. He just kept staring at the boy, if such a _thing_ could be called as such, and briskly began walking away. He chose to ignore the cries of parting from the children.

When, Naruto saw them finally leave, he felt his hand on his cheek, stilling feeling the warmness of the kiss. He quickly deduced that it was different from the ones he received from his mom and that it made him feel nice.

"Naruto, my boy," His father intoned in his musings, "You are going to be a lady killer when you grow up, just like your old man."

"Shishiro."

"Godamnit, Kushina, why must you bring his name up every time!"

"So that it doesn't go to your head, and by osmosis, Naruto's."

Naruto was still rooted to the spot, a silly grin plastered on with no end in sight.

A few months had passed and Naruto was bone tired. His dad had been training him nonstop for a while now and he barely was seeing any progress. He was running around a whole lot, carrying a whole lot, hitting a whole lot, or a combination of the three. His mom just said that I wouldn't feel the effect for a long time and Naruto was too tired to question. He still got to have fun at first, but then they saw that he was behind in the academic department as well, and decided to teach him every other day. He now only got Sunday's to have fun now and he takes full advantage of that. He leaves right after breakfast and doesn't come back till dinner, sometimes taking his parents and sometimes not; on the latter occasion he divulges his full day in detail.

And such, at least to Naruto, life was good.

Today was another Sunday, and Naruto was about to leave but was stopped when there was knocking on his door. Kushina flew up to the peephole, Naruto being too short, to see who it was. When a wide brim white and red hat was visible, she unchained the door and Naruto opened it. When he saw that it was Jiji, he flew into the old man's arms and was twirled around.

"Jiji! I haven't seen you in, like, forever!" Naruto tilted his head and looked confused for a second, before asking the old man to come in and if he would like some tea. Shocked by the young man's hospitality, he reflexively said, "Yes please."

Naruto ran toward the kitchen where tea was mysteriously already being made. Naruto crawled up on the counter and got two cups and picked up the tea pot, which had been turned off by itself, and poured them both some tea. Sarutobi graciously accepted his and took a sip after allowing it to cool. A tiny known fact is that Hiruzen was an adept taste critic. He could tell the brand of sake, it's year and finally it's preparations from just one sip. His pipe only carried the particular flavor of weeds that he liked and ordered from wood country, specially made to his specification. Now, the reason one must know this fact is that among the various teas he had tasted over the years, only two ever made him as warm and relaxed as he was right then. His wife, using some secret ingredient she took to her grave, Kami rest her soul, and Kushina, who somehow made everything delicious without trying.

Now Sarutobi was a sensible man, a man of logic and strategy the likes of which that few were his peers, but you don't live this long without knowing that there are other factors in the world that go beyond human understanding. Considering that this tea was both impeccably like Kushina's and accounting Naruto's strange behavior, Sarutobi was not about to dismiss it so easily. Though this would be a risky gamble, he felt that it would pay in the end, hopefully.

"This is good tea, Naruto. Tell your mother that her skill is still present even now."

"That's what I say! She just is too nice to admit it, and Tou-san says that she's always been like this but-mrh…" Naruto was silenced by something holding his lips together, obvious by the fact that he was trying to talk through closed lips and the impressions of hands evident.

Sarutobi's face became very serious and began to fly through scenario after scenario trying to come up with the most apt to this situation. He had boiled it down to either: a) Naruto had lost it while somehow simultaneously attaining his mother's gift in the kitchen, b) The Kyuubi was wearing down the seal (He hoped not), or c) Naruto was haunted by the ghosts of his parents.

Naruto stared at something next to his face and then go a scared revelation, like a child who had said one too many family secrets. He tried to play it off, horribly but a b for effort, before he saw that it was pointless. He looked to his right this time and then looked at the Hokage.

"Tou-san says for me to say _'If only, if only, the woodpecker sighs; the barks of the trees were as soft as the skies; the wolf waits below, hungry and lonely, and cries to the moon; if only, if only.'_"

Sarutobi threw out the first two options just then, reciting the poem every Hokage learns to signify identification in case of delicate situations. Suddenly, a scroll comes off the nearby counter and floats unsteadily towards the table, followed by a brush and inkwell. The brush was dipped in the ink and was slowly and meticulously writing a message on the parchment.

Sarutobi was still in shock, even when Naruto was rolling on the ground, finding something funny that he was apparently missing. After another twenty minutes of awkward silence, the writing ceased, and Sarutobi went over and read the entire scroll, first to analyze the writing style, and finding it written in both Minato's writing style and the code he had invented during wartime, he read it for an explanation. It gave a detailed and thorough account of the sealing till recent events, giving diagrams of their structure, his theories and various other things. Once he finished reading it and actually processing it all, he closed it up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, Naruto, but I need to go do some work. Can you and your parents come tomorrow around noon if you don't mind?"

"Sure, Jiji. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Hiruzen turned and saw poor Naruto sitting on the couch, having not moved this whole time, more than likely out of guilt. He smiled feeling pity rush through him, and made towards the boy and gave him a big hug and shushed him soothingly.

"No, it's okay my boy. I think its Kami's way of keeping me humble. I had done what I thought was right, and in the end, it helped no one, least of all you. I sometimes forget I am human, and its surprises like this that keeps me going on the straight and narrow. I should be the one asking you for your forgiveness, keeping so much from you and lying to you when you had asked those years ago. You too, Minato, Kushina, I am so sorry your precious boy had to go through so much so young when I could have done something. Can you forgive this weary dried up old man?"

Naruto looked up at the old man, and he could really see how old he was, his face becoming so sad that the boy did what his first impulse was, and smiled the biggest, goofiest smile he could and shouted, "Of course, Jiji! Because you're my Jiji and you don't even need to ask! But I will only forgive you on one condition!"

Sarutobi looked puzzled before asking it what it was.

"You gotta buy me a bazillion ramens for lunch tomorrow!"

Sarutobi couldn't help it. This little kid no older than seven had effectively brightened his day and renewed his strength as a leader, all with just a smile and a few words. He laughed, long and hard, for a good five minutes before embracing the boy once again and lifted him off the ground.

"It's a promise, Naruto!"

Howdy

So what do y'all think, I kinda feel it isn't getting the impact I wanted but hey, it's my work and I will always be proud of it, flawed though I know it to be!

Read and review, Especially review!

I need critiquing and am looking for a good sempai to advise me!


	6. Of Pinwheels and IceCream

Greetings, I had forgotten that I haven't introduced myself, I am DarkerDeepDown, or DDD for short. I am a new writer and I wish very much to make an even better author sometime in the future, and I will need your help. So R&R.

I'm so sorry my very few fans, I have just started college and I kinda screwed up my first semester.

You see, the reason for the delay is that my classes make me write a paper daily and it just ruins my writing mood. But I had written this chapter and I had downloaded it onto my flash drive. And it went a little something like this…

"Where's my flash drive? OH FLASHIE!"

*Bark* "Lassie! What was that girl? She's been abducted by the Goblin Queen! *whistle* Dashie, come!"

"How many times have I told you? I'm _Rainbow_ Dash, Not Dashie!"

"Whatever, *mounts* Onwards to victory!"

… And I reclaimed Excalibur and saved Narnia. True story. Oh and ignore any news castings of a dashing your man flying on a rainbow, the camera added ten pounds on Dashie and she isn't happy.

Welp on with the Show!

XXX

Sarutobi was in his office, reading another civil dispute and gauging the best course of action.

'_Sakuya is a prominent rice farmer and provides a significant portion to Konoha's economy and general food rations, at the cost of his profit. He is given sway in the general affairs of how he runs his plantation, maybe even given too much considering this formal complaint from one of his workers of given less shares of his labor as of late. His general treatment even has diminished as of late. I have seen the man grow into who he is today and this is highly irregular, and considering he has been contributing less and less resources in recent days is really worrying me.'_

Sarutobi turned in his chair and looked upon his village in contemplation. Many of his home's assets are slowly pulling back in their contributions and he had an idea as to who was behind it.

'_The Uchiha have been doubling their patrols, reporting to me that it's because of an increase in crime around certain districts. If they think I don't notice that those districts are in the vicinity of our clan homes then I truly have been lax in leading. I am glad that my __advisors __are currently under house arrest otherwise I shudder to what they would resort to as a first response.'_

Sarutobi tapped a concealed button on his desk, before an Anbu wearing a weasel mask materialized before him, bowing to his commander.

"Weasel, you and your team have been infiltrating the growing problem with your clan. Report your conclusions."

"Hokage-sama, along with their mobilizing and training of certain strike teams, they are drawing in sympathizers among many of Konoha's foundational supports. Sometimes through coercion, and if that doesn't work, force if not outright usurpation of identities. Many Uchiha are aware of the impending uprising and choose inaction and to side with the victors. My team is still uncompromised, following the plan to keep me in the spotlight while the work from the shadows. I know not if I can maintain my intentions ambiguous any longer and would like to move our plan of action into a more active role sir."

Sarutobi, to his credit, honestly contemplated this course of action. Life would be so much easier and it was a tactic that had been used many a time, and highly effective. Sadly, open warfare would be too disastrous, more than likely ending up like Kiri. "Does your father suspect of my awareness of his coup?"

"Yes and no. He knows that I am with you and that you have suddenly stepped out of complacency into action, but he is not aware of the degree of infiltration you have milord."

Sarutobi ran scenarios in his head. The spearhead of this rebellion is obviously trying to take control, while the masses, and love them though he does, will comply if enough of an example is to be made from the current regime. Jiraiya is still looking for Tsunade and some of his ninja are on missions. His forces are not capable of full on battle with the clan of copy-cats.

Weasel made a sort of strangled attempt to speak, but grew silent once more.

"Something to say, weasel?"

Sarutobi turned the chair around and looked upon his trusted soldier and saw something he had never seen from the poor boy.

Nervousness bordering upon… anticipation?

"There was… a man, who visited me in my dreams. I did not wish to speak of this because he had said that if I was to meet him somewhere alone, he would grant me power. He bore a grudge against the Uchiha for some reason and as such he would tell me a secret of the Sharingan that I had not been made aware of. I was going to visit the place to see if my dream was true or if I was imagining things, but I was afraid to ask for your permission on the grounds that it was a dream and nothing substantial."

"Mangenkyo."

Weasel looked up at his leader, his blank mask hiding his confusion.

"The term is called the Mangenkyo Sharingan. It was wielded by your ancestor, Madara Uchiha, the organizer and founder to your clan. I don't know very much about this ability other than it's a great power, given at a great cost. Although I would say no to this off the bat, we just don't have the luxury for you to ignore it. Go, but know that I will have someone watching, someone no one could ever, and will ever detect. Don't give me details, for if he knows about that ability, then we must assume the walls are our enemy and I choose to speak no evil in this sense. Go, and do what you must."

Weasel fired off a salute and disappeared in a whirl of leaves.

Sarutobi turned back around, many questions plaguing his thoughts. The most irrelevant however went along the lines of_, 'I have still yet to find out where those leaves come from.' _

XXX

Naruto was in a field, in the middle of his training regimen.

He had begun as usual, his father telling him what he was doing today. After his warm-up of alternating between ten sets of two minute round-offs of running, pull-up, stretches, and core exercises that lasted about an hour, he was onto his fighting training.

He used to not even get passed warm-up, but he was beginning to feel stronger and better after all his work. His father was a task-master, and if you weren't in perfect form every time, you were to do them again and again till you did it right. Although it hurt so much more doing it this way, he really was feeling the difference in a lot of ways. His posture was straighter, and he was actually getting taller. His mom, through some convoluted and overly complicated plan that made his brain ache, had been getting the supplies she had been wanting, somehow still having receipts, and been nourishing his tiny frame until he was vibrant and healthy.

He was working on his coordination by balancing on his hands when his father called out to him.

"Naruto, you might wanna stop, we have a visitor." _'Technically two, but we will cross that bridge later.'_

Naruto pounced off his hands and attempted to land on his feet. Sadly, he over shot his mark and landed on his face. Rubbing his nose, Naruto spied his Jiji coming into the clearing with a grim face.

Sarutobi smiled a little when he saw Naruto, but exhaustion was written all over his face and countenance. Naruto, being the polite soul he was, asked if he would sit for some lunch that had made for him.

"That would be nice, my boy, but I have business with our friend," He fished a few ryo out and handed them to Naruto, "Why don't you and your secret admirer go and get some sweets?" Sarutobi turned toward some bushes to his right, "Doesn't that sound good Hyuuga-san?"

A muted shrill of surprise rang from said bushes before a small frame crawled out and shyly made it over to the Hokage. Naruto was confused as to why this random girl was in those bushes. They couldn't be comfortable right?

"Now run along children," The old man made a shooing motion, prompting the children even further.

Naruto grinned widely before grabbing the poor girl's hand and bolted off in the other direction, practically dragging her and bombarding her with questions like 'were you looking for bugs' or ' if she had ever had ramen.' The last they heard was of him asking her name, before the finally got out of earshot.

Sarutobi turned to his altered predecessor and barked, "Report."

Minato, to his credit, had been getting better at his calligraphy, and Sarutobi had brought his glasses to read the tiny print being scribbled on the ground.

"The populace of the Uchiha district is still widely in the gray over which side to choose. Fugaku is still trying to get unanimous support for his campaign, and is gaining followers every day. His pitch is that they feel under-represented with their power and prestige, considering they are a founding clan. Your plants are still uncompromised and are ready to strike at your command. I would advise pre-emptive strike or delegation and negotiations but neither will be prudent however; one being a massacre and the other playing your hand too early. Another course of action would to tempt them into starting early, then compromising their operation right off the bat. You would be justified, and there is no unnecessary bloodshed."

Sarutobi brushed dirt over the message, erasing it from existence before someone could read it. He liked the idea, but still wasn't sure how to apply it just yet.

"Well done. I have a new mission for you. Weasel is going to visit a questionable source, with my permission, and I would like you to observe and report back to me the exact details. Understood?"

A check-mark was drawn before it too was erased.

XXX

"-which just goes to show that Ramen is greater than all things!"

Hinata giggled at his bravado, envying his ability to speak his mind so boldly. She licked her fingers, savoring the leftover icing from her cinnamon bun she just ate. They moved towards a clearing in the park and sat beneath a tree.

"Hey, I just remembered that I don't know your name!" Naruto proudly thrust forth his hand, beaming like the sun on a clear day. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name?"

Hinata stared at the hand, nervous at trying to set a good first impression.

While she wanted to say, 'Hello, my name is Hinata Hyuuga,' what came out were a stuttering mess and a jumble of words that didn't quite make sense.

Naruto perked his head to the side, "What?"

"M-am-s-hi-ta-Hy" was all the poor boy could make out when she tried again.

"Hmmmm… AHA!"

Naruto got into his pack and pulled out a notepad and a pencil and handed it to her. "Since you are so quite I can't hear you, why don't you just write what you want to say?"

Hinata stared at the gift and took it graciously, before writing down her name.

Naruto stared at the name, which was written in kanji, and groaned. He still didn't quite have a good grasp of the more complex characters of his native language, and Hinata seeing the confusion on his face, took the pad back before writing it in hiragana.

And so their day passed as such, with Naruto speaking out loud and Hinata writing her notes. For once in her life, she could fully express her thoughts with someone who wasn't from her clan, and not being stopped from her shy stuttering. They shared nearly everything that day: secrets, fears, dreams, even their lives. The sun had painted the sky red before they even felt the passing of time. They were finally interrupted when a man walked into the clearing.

"Hinata."

Hinata froze up, her next sentence unfinished, and looked up at the intruder.

"Tou-san."

She immediately stood up and brushed off any dirt she had on her from her stay with her new friend. She calmly and gracefully made her way over to him and stood behind and to the side of him.

Naruto stared at the man, trying to see any resemblance between the two. He was tall, and most of his physique was obscured by a long white robe that was nigh of immaculately clean. His long dark brown hair was straight and clean, framing a stern and rigid face. His eyes were nearly all white, drastically different from the lavender eyes of his daughter. His frown was almost unnoticeable but his eyes were telling his current judgment of the situation.

As Naruto was about to speak, he was interrupted from the Hokage entering the clearing.

"Greetings, Hyuuga-san. I see you have come to bring your daughter home."

"Konichiwa, Hokage-sama. Yes, I did come to take my daughter back home, but I am curious as to why she was interacting with this boy, when she had said she was going to her retainer's home for lessons. It was to my surprise that she was neither there nor at home and I began to worry. I don't suppose the boy had anything to do with this, now would you boy?"

Sarutobi answered for Naruto, knowing that the boy could have said something regrettable if he had spoken, "Naruto was out training when I noticed that Hinata-chan had been wandering the streets, obviously lost. This is her first time without Ko-san, correct? So I thought that Naruto might want to show Hinata around and maybe spend the day together. I'm sorry to find that I made her miss an appointment and I will try to be less of an old busy-body next time." He finished his lie with a grandfatherly smile as he could make and turned to Naruto, "Now why don't you say good bye to Hinata-chan and we will be off, neh"

"Bye, Hinata-chan! I'll see you later!"

She shyly waved back before following her father out of the park. She looked at her father as he marched forth, his fists swaying in a military fashion. She entertained the fantasy of holding her father's hand as they walked home, but new that that would never fly out in public. Image and all that fun jazz. She nearly jumped when she heard her name called.

"Yes, Otou-san?"

"I would warn you in interacting with that boy. His reputation may not be wholly deserved, but you are a scion of the great Hyuuga clan."

She slumped, her poor child heart nearly broken at not being able to play with her new, and only, friend.

"But that is what I should say as a clan head."

She looked up at the back of his head in bewilderment.

"As a father, I would say that I had been watching you for a while with that boy and I must say that I haven't seen you that happy since your mother died. Know that though may not be the best father, but I still wish your happiness." He stopped and turned kneeling to her, a small smile on his lips and warmth she had never seen in his eyes. "Just tell me next time, okay?"

She leapt onto his face and hugged it while a tear slipped through her eye. He returned the hug and kissed the top of her head, before standing upright. She latched onto his hand and they stayed like that all the way to the compound.

XXX

Welp, hope it was good, I kinda felt iffy but I tried to end strong or end up rambling. Time skip next chapter and the Academy days begin, along with the Uchiha Uprising.

Thank you Cleveland and good night.


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